1. A Dream for Generations to Come
TrueThe idea of building a gigantic dam in the Three
Gorges area to harness the Yangtze River is not new. More
than seventy year ago, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, pioneer of the
Chinese democratic revolution, first proposed that a Yangtze
Three Gorges Project be constructed. Later, numerous experts
conducted investigations on and preparatory work for the
project. But because of historic reasons and lack of
resources, the development of the project remained only a
dream. Since the founding of the People? Republic of
China in 1949, the project was back on the agenda. After
meticulous feasibility studies by experts, it was finally
concluded that the merits of the project far overweigh its
demerits. On April 3, 1992, the National People?
Congress approved the construction of the project. The Three
Gorges Project has its main benefits in flood control, power
generation and navigation.

Historically, the
population in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze
River suffered tremendous losses from flooding both in human
lives and property. In 1931 alone, as a result of flooding,
333 thousand hectares of cultivated land were stricken, 145
thousand people were drowned.

Currently, 15
million people and 1.6 million hectares of land along the
Jingjiang section of the Yangtze River are serious
threatened by flooding. Once the project? reservoir
with a flood control storage of 22.1 billion cubic meters is
completed, the project can raise flood control capacity from
the present 10-year frequency to 100-year frequency.

With its total installed capacity of 18,200
MW, the Three Gorges Hydropower Station will generate 84.7
billion KWH a year, one-ninth of the national total
generated power.

Thirdly, the project will
enable 10,000-ton towboats to sail up-stream as far as
Chongqing. The Yangtze? navigation capacity will thus
be increased from 10 million to 50 million tons a year with
the cost lowered by 35%-37%.

2.
Problems to Be ResolvedThe project also presents
daunting problems which should be properly handled and
solved to avoid any possible undesired impacts. These
include resettlement of population, environmental
protection, fund raising, etc.

About 1 million
people will be relocated owing to the construction of the
project. The government has attached great importance to the
issue and decided to appropriate large sums of money for the
resettlement program. The guiding principle of the program
is that the life of the relocatees can only be improved. For
this purpose, the government has adopted
development-oriented resettlement, in other words, to
combine resettlement with local economic development. The
relocatees find higher-paying jobs in the newly set up
businesses, which are usually located within the same
country or city. Therefore, they feel quite at home and
enjoy a better living in their new homes.

There has been concern about possible negative
impacts on the environment by the project both at home and
abroad.

This issue has been given very serious
consideration and numerous measures have been taken to
ensure environmental protection. For instance, the project
construction will affect the habitats of Chinese river
dolphin and Chinese sturgeon. So, the present protection
areas and artificial breeding fields for them will be
further perfected. It is not insignificant that the project
will supply clean energy, replacing the burning of 50
million tons of raw coal annually. According to
calculations, the discharge into the atmosphere of 100
million tons of carbon dioxide, 1.2-2 million tons of
sulphur-dioxide, 10,000 tons of carbon monoxide, along with
large amount of flying dust will be drastically reduced. 44
historical relics will be affected by the project
construction and measures will be taken for their
protection. For example, the White Crane Backbone, an
ancient identification record of dry seasons in the history
will be relocated. The Sibaozhai in Zhongxian County and the
Quyuan Temple whose foundations are to be submerged will be
well protected from water-logging.

By the year
2009 when the project is completed, the total investment for
the project will amount to US $28 billion. The funds for the
project come from four sources: the Three Gorges
Construction Funds, power revenues from the existing
Gezhouba Hydropower Plant, power revenues from the Three
Gorges Project starting from the year 2003 and loans and
credits from the State Development Bank. In spite of the
above sources, it is estimated that there exists a fund gap
of $7.1 billion. This gap will be made up through domestic
loans, export credits, overseas commercial loans and bond
issuing, etc. As the project construction lasts 17 years and
funding comes from multiple sources, fund raising does not
present a difficult problem. The funding of the project has
been smooth and no shortage of money has so far affected the
progress of the project.

3. Progress in
the ProjectAfter the resolution on the Three Gorges
Project was adopted in 1992, the State Council immediately
started preparations for the project. On December 14, 1994,
the Chinese government announced its formal commencement.
The construction has proceeded smoothly since then. By the
end of 1995, a total investment of 12.4 billion yuan ($ 1.55
billion) was made and 100 million cubic meters of earth and
stone on excavation, 1.63 million cubic meters of concrete
works and 220,000 square meters of building works had been
completed. The implementation of the construction of the
project has been executed on or ahead of schedule. All this
is preparatory work for the first major goal of the project
- the Yangtze River blocking in November 1997 and also for
the consequent stage of the operation of the first generator
set in 2003 and the completion of the whole project in 2009.

The Chinese government and people are
confident that, relying mainly on their own efforts and also
through international cooperation, they will successfully
build up the Three Gorges Project.